Walker, others commiserate with local farmers
By Jennifer Eisenbart
Staff writer
Looks can be deceiving.
Most local farmers can tell you that about their corn crops. Although there are a lot of fields with high stalks, few seem to be making an important connection – the pollination from the tassels to the ears of corn.
And then there’s what Gov. Scott Walker saw from his helicopter view Friday while touring the drought-stricken area.
“From the air, it looks like you’re looking at a golf course and you’re looking at sand traps,” said Walker of the large swatches of fields that are peppered with browned-out, last-legged corn stalks.
Walker declared a state of emergency in Wisconsin almost three weeks ago, and last week filed for federal disaster relief for 23 counties because of the drought.
His visits to area farms across the southeast corner of the state Friday seemed equal parts inspecting the damage and pep talk.
The Fredrich farm in Spring Prairie, which is leased by Jeff Erhhart, was the first of four stops Friday, with one other farm and then two meetings to follow.
Walker took his time to look over all of the Erhhart crops – which include corn, soybeans and wheat – before stopping to talk to the assembled press.
“It’s a powerless feeling for farmers, when Mother Nature deals a blow like this,” Walker said. “It’s important for us to make sure they know we are here to assess all impacts of the drought and tap every possible resource to help in the recovery.”
Walker wasn’t the only politician on hand for the tour. State Rep. and Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca, D-Kenosha, was on hand, as were a number of other state legislators. State Sen. Neal Kedzie, R-Elkhorn, called the current conditions the worst he has seen since 1988.
“We’re seeing conditions that are going to be very difficult to reverse,” Kedzie explained. “A lot of this is reliant upon nature, and God at this point.
“This is a national issue with far-reaching implications.”
As of Tuesday, numerous states were seeking federal disaster aid. Eighty percent of the country is officially in drought status with farmers going as far away as Canada to find hay for livestock.
The immediate problem, though, is the corn crop. Not only is there going to be less to go around for those who eat corn, but corn for other uses – feed, forage, corn syrup, etc. – is affected as well.
It all started, Erhhart said, with the pollination.
“We had an early start to the corn,” he explained before the governor arrived Friday. But because of the stress from the lack of water, the corn tasseled early.
Because of that, the silks that gather the pollen were not developed.
“If it doesn’t pollinate, it’s not going to grow an ear,” Erhhart explained.
He was quick to point out, though, that there is no way of knowing right now how bad the situation is – unlike Illinois, he said, where farmers are walking into high fields, pulling back the silks from the ears – and finding no corn.
“We don’t know if we’re going to run into that situation here or not,” Erhhart said.
Fredrich, meanwhile, was grateful for the various new genetics in the crops, which helped alleviate at least some of the issues.
“We’ve got damages,” he said, though. The question is, how much. Fredrich, who works with Erhhart on the leased land, said they hauled in a strong wheat crop – better than expected. But the third crop they grow, soybeans, will hit its make-or-break point over the next month.
“We’ve still got a good chance of producing,” he said. “But it’s got to happen all the way along. We’ve lost 4-5 weeks here.”
Both farmers have crop insurance, which means they should survive this drought. However, something Kedzie and Walker both expressed concern for, are farmers caught without insurance. For them, surviving until next year will be the question.
Hence the need for a farm bill on a federal scale, some said. That, however, is caught up in the legislature in Washington, as both sides complain it either doesn’t do enough or does too much for the wrong people.
Walker expressed some hope that, if the two political parties could work together on something, it would be a farm bill – especially with so much of the country affected.
“It’s not like you can go a couple of states over and things are perfect,” Walker said. “I would think in Washington, if there’s anything that going to be passed in a bipartisan fashion, it’s a farm bill.”
In the meantime, Walker directed farmers to http://ready.wi.gov/ for resources and information about the drought and record heat.
-
-
-
-
-
Maybe Walker should have promised to create 250,000 new rain showers like he did with jobs during his campaign! Oh wait, that might actually make Wisconsin the worst state of drought in the nation. Nevermind.
Cranley, Burlington’s professional D-Bag. BTW how’s that unemployment rate that was never to get above 8% if we spent a trillion on bailing out the unions? Go stimulus-ate yourself Cranley.
Here’s to hoping for the best for the crops no matter what their politics.
Well Edwardo, I could respond to your question with actual information and reasoned argument that would no doubt make you look silly. But since you think we spent a $trillion on stimulus and believe faithfully as I’m sure you were told to, that it was used to bail out unions, and on top of that chose to comment in such a childish and petulent tone, making you look silly is no longer necessary, you’ve done that yourself. Thank you for your service!
Yours Truly,
Sean Cranley, Registered PD-B
Quite the comedian. Stick to professonal blogging. At least you’re pretty good at spreading non-sense.
BTW his term isn’t over yet if you didn’t know. Besides the fact that he’ll probably be re-elected again.
Thank you John for complimenting my humor and for your substantive and insightful analysis of my writing. Based on the examples of my non-sense that you provided, you’ve aptly demonstrated the worthiness of your critique. I’m gratified that you think my blogging, which I enjoy as a sideline, rises to the level of professionalism, but I’ll stick with my actual professional avocation which, fortunately for me, also involves a great deal of writing.
Scott Walker claimed he would create 250,000 jobs and said that he should be held accountable by the voters for reaching that goal. My guess is he didn’t really mean that. Scott’s a pretty smart guy and I doubt very much that he believed he or any other governor would really have that kind of power within their grasp. So I doubt he really meant that either.
It seems though that a lot of people who voted for him really believed him at the time. The notion that one would believe that he will still achieve that lofty goal from so deep a hole with a year and half of futility behind him and no new plans on his horizon is an incredible profession of faith. Good for you!
It’s unfortunate that people believe what Walker says even though he lies time and time again.
I think the drought is George Bush’s fault.
I also heard the Koch Brothers are not allowing it to rain.
They want to take over all farming in the country and then close down the public school system. You see as children they were harassed by the neighbor who was a retired publics school teacher turned farmer.